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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2090863" data-attributes="member: 1210">4/27/369 O.L.G., 2 p.m. Timothy and the goblins keep screeching at each other in that hideous tongue that the goblins use.  Disgusting, thinks Naomi, but keeps it to herself.  She feels another pain in her chest.  Psychosomatic, no doubt- a symptom of what she has lost.  She can feel the void where it used to be within her; powers she can no longer use, things she had understood that now have slipped away...She curses the vampire under her breath.*“Oh, Naomi, the goblins can’t help you,” Timothy reports at last.  Naomi feels crushing disappointment wash over her.  “But,” he goes on, and hope kindles, “they say that there is a strange temple to the ancestors where strange things happen, and maybe they can help you.”“Where is this place?”“On the next island.”  He smiles.  “And they’ll be done building our boat tomorrow or the next day!”“Great,” she mutters.***4/28/369 O.L.G., 3 p.m.“I think there’s a ship out there!  Hey, I think I say a ship!”  Beau is very excited.  He gathers his friends quickly.  “It was behind one of the other islands, but I swear I saw it!”“Could be, arr,” agrees Dogtooth.  “I’ve seen several vessels in the time I’ve been here.  But beware!  Arr!!  Ain’t no good reason to be here, and any man savvy enough with a ship t’ navigate these waters is bound to be formidable, if ye gets my drift.”“Uh,” answers Timothy, “what?”“Pirates, lad,” Dogtooth growls.  “They be pirates.”Beau’s enthusiasm wilts at that.***4/29/369 O.L.G., 6 a.m.Bright and early our heroes set out across the water in their goblin-made canoe.  It has outriggers on either side to add stability, but it was built by goblins.  Our heroes doubt whether it will last too long in a storm.  “Arr, and don’t forget- the waters in the center of these islands chew ships like tabaccy,” Dogtooth growls.  “Arr.”  It takes our heroes about six hours to make it to the next island, but the weather is fair and they snack extensively on the way.  Dogtooth teaches them some old sea shanties, and the group sings happily on their way. It starts to sprinkle a little when they finally reach the next isle.  The party spots a large goblin village but chooses to avoid it for the time being.  Dogtooth steers their little boat around an extrusion of the shore and along a cliff, hopefully out of view.“I wonder if we’ll find those spices,” Beau says suddenly.“Yeah, and isn’t there a big diamond or something somewhere on these islands?” Naomi adds.“It’s a lot of land to search,” Whisperclick points out. Naomi shakes her head.  “I just want to find these ancestors and get healed.”***4 p.m.The party circumnavigates almost the entire island, and to their chagrin the only place where a landing could be attempted is near the goblins.  “Arr, that be no good,” Dogtooth remarks.  Grulka, cringing next to Jawbreaker, keeps her goblin hand on his arm. The party elects instead to attempt to send a man up the cliff.  There are mangroves with their great roots; the rise in only about 30’.  Dogtooth does his best to steady the boat, though the sea is getting rougher here.  The party debates who is going to climb up first to secure a rope.  “Halflings always die when we start climbing,” objects Thelonious.  Whisperclick first volunteers, then chickens out.  Finally, Thelonious, annoyed with the level of indecision, starts clambering up.  He ties the rope to himself and then swims over to the cliff.  The sea threatens to pound him against it, but he manages to clamber up and out of the waves.  He reaches the top of the little cliff and fastens the end securely to a stump.Then a terrible spider monster attacks him from behind, and he has nowhere to go.  He fires his bow as it closes on him, then begins a dance of steel with the hideous orange monster.  “Hold the rope below!  Monster!  Hurry, help!!” he shouts.Whisperclick, meanwhile, studies the situation and starts to clamber up the rope.  Unfortunately, he slips into the water with a splash!  “Fool, you should let me secure it first!” Naomi cries, tying off the lower end with that salty dog Dogtooth’s help.  The others start firing bows and clambering up the rope.  Thelonious darts around, firing arrow after arrow at the creature at point blank range.  It squeals and hisses, rushing in to take more and more bites out of the human ranger.  And then- just as it moves forward to attack the archer again, Jawbreaker darts in, crashing into the monster’s side with a heaving blow of his axe.  Black ichor spurts everywhere, and the thing spasms, then curls up and rolls over like a dead spider.“Sheesh,” says Thelonious shakily.  “That... that could have killed me.”“I’m so sorry,” says Whisperclick.  “I should have gone first.”  A strange lassitude seems to have come over him since he donned Martini’s old helmet.  ***6 p.m.Our heroes move upslope towards the center of the island, having already noted the presence of some ruins near the center.  They slay a goblin on the way up, and eventually must take their rest as the fat summer sun goes down and night opens its eyes.  ***5/1/369 O.L.G., NoonFinally, after several days of travel, our heroes reach the ruins of the ancestors.  For some strange reason, the gnome ties a rope to himself before entering.  The single good-sized building that still stands reveals its secrets to them.  Empty except for rats and glyphs of warding, which harm but do not kill our heroes, the danger is nonetheless enough that Whisperclick attempts to flee up a nearby set of stairs.  Amused and annoyed both, Beau grabs the trailing end of the rope that Whisperclick had tied around his waist and pulls him down the stairs, which proves to be a painful and humiliating fall.  At the bottom, Whisperclick staggers to his feet angrily, and he and Beau come to blows; but Timothy separates them with a flaming sphere, which also burns through the rope, and Jawbreaker bonks the gnome over the head with the flat of his axe, trying to stun him into submission without killing him. Beau, on the other hand, feints; and as the gnome tries to parry the fake blow, the halfling rogue slips through his guard and stabs him in the vitals, putting him down.“Oh no!  Whisperclick!” exclaims Timothy in distress.  “Why were you guys fighting?”“He was being a coward!” Beau cries.  “I didn’t want him to run away again!”“Stupid gnome,” Jawbreaker mutters.“We could eat him,” Naomi offers helpfully.“Nobody’s eating anyone,” declares Beau.  “How about sacrificing him to the ancestors?”“No!” Timothy interjects.  “Chief Jawbreaker, as your advisor, I advise you not to sacrifice the gnome.”“Welllll...”  Beau chuckles.Jawbreaker cuts off debate.  “No killing.  If he not be nice when wake up, we leave him on island.”“Fair enough,” Beau nods.“Yes!  Listen to Chief Jawbreaker.”  Timothy smiles enthusiastically.  “No killing!”“Bah,” mutters Naomi.***4 p.m.The ancestors are long-gone, apparently; but when Naomi cuts her hand and drips blood on their altar, she finds herself in a weird state of communion with something.  A spirit?  Perhaps a long-passed ghost?  Who knows?  Whatever it is, Naomi walks away from it with a restoration and a quest.“There’s an idol,” she tells her adventuring companions.  “It belongs here, but someone took it.  We have to find it and bring it back.”“Okay, fair trade- idol for your powers,” Jawbreaker nods.  “Where idol?”“On one of the islands, probably the next one.”“We’re makin’ the rounds, arr, sure enough,” Dogtooth growls.The party begins trekking down towards the sea.  Evening is setting in, and just before the chief is going to call a halt they are fortunate enough to be attacked by dire bacon- that is, a dire boar.  They slay it with magic and blades, and soon they’ve begun roasting it.“I like these islands,” Beau sighs.  “They have lots of things to eat on them.”Next Time: Death strikes our happy little group!!*That’s right, she lost a level when she failed to throw off a negative level.  Ouch!  That’s the worst!</blockquote>

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